The only way next season can be "better" is winning the national title. While we bring in some great recruits, there's no one replacing Wagner, so the answer to "can we be better?" is: maybe? probably not.

One thing I found interesting about Duncan's story is that his freshman year at Williams he played a major role in the 2014 DIII Final Four, dropping 30 points in the semifinal vs Amherst and 17 in the title game vs Wisconsin-Whitewater, despite his team losing on a buzzer-beater layup. I want him to win a title and come full circle!

There is no need to go small against Loyola. They have been exteremely fortunate thus far in the tournament that all the good big players they were supposed to face were out with injury (Kyle Alexander, 6'11" for Tennessee and Dean Wade, 6'10" for K-State).

Tennessee played a lineup with no one taller than 6'7", Nevada also didn't play anyone taller than 6'7" (their 43% 3-point sniper had an 0 for 8 outing), and K-State laughably went with five players shorter than 6'5".

Michigan can impose its will on Loyola because Loyola is 2011 Michigan with a higher turnover rate. Driving lanes will be open and MAAR/Simpson have no need to fear shots getting blocked. Wagner will be able to shoot over everyone and get to the bucket whenever he wants.

The Medcalf article referenced here is an achievement in and of itself. A gift that keeps on giving this March. For those keeping score he predicted Arizona to the final four, Michigan State over Gonzaga in the championship game, then doubled down by ranking Michigan 15th out of 16 teams in the Sweet 16 and now writes an entire column attributing college basketball three point shooting exclusively to the Golden State warriors. It is, as listed, impressive.

The top 5 teams on Barttorvik since 2/11 are Duke, Michigan, Villanova, Kentucky, and Houston in that order. For reference Texas A&M is 47th (Gonzaga 10, FSU 53). I think we're more likely to see Madison Square Garden offensive Michigan at Staples Center. Good riddance to Intrust Arena!

You can safely rule out Charlotte, Dallas, and PIttsburgh as possible sites for Michigan based on other top-16 projected teams. If not Detroit you're looking at a very high probability of Boise with a slight chance of San Diego.

M seems destined for the 3-line this year. I'd kind of rather be a 3-seed with Auburn/Cincinnati as the 2 instead of facing Duke, or rematches of UNC/Purdue. We want to root hard against Clemson, Tennessee, Texas Tech, WVU, and Arizona.

For those wanting to get to the source it appears the NCAA is posting daily updates to the official "team sheets" that the committee will use to determine seeding. As of today, Michigan is the 13th sheet listed (ordered by averaging the six rating metrics used), MSU is 15th.

Kenpom will actually be on the team sheets this year, so it is relevant. There are 6 rankings and an average that show up on the sheet: RPI, KPI, ESPN SoR, BPI, KenPom, and Sagarin. After today Michigan will definitely be in the 2-3 seed range on those averages with 7 Q1 wins (MSU has 3).